The True Nature of the Brightest Local Triple Stellar Candidates within 100 pc in the Galaxy

Abstract

We present a study of a sample of bright ( V ≤ 10 mag) and close ( d ≤ 100 pc) triple–stellar system candidates in the galaxy, consisting of eight systems in total. Our aim is to determine their actual multiplicity and the physical properties of each stellar component in the systems. The sample was analyzed using a complex spectrophotometric technique by Al-Wardat that utilizes ATLAS9 line-blanketed plane-parallel model atmospheres. Based on our analysis, we found that five of the systems (HIP 109951, HIP 105947, HIP 40523, HIP 35733, and HIP 23824) are indeed triples, while the remaining three systems (HIP 9642, HIP 59426, and HIP 101227) are more consistent with being quadruples. We estimated the physical properties of the individual components using the most recent parallax measurements from the GAIA Data Release 3 catalog. We also examined the applicability of the well-established Mass–Luminosity ( M – L ) relation for individual components of all the stellar systems that have been analyzed by the Al-Wardat technique. We found that generally, the components are in good agreement with the established relationship. This further supports the reliability of the method in determining the physical properties of multiple stellar systems. In addition, we investigated the M – L relation for each order of stellar multiplicity (i.e., binary, triple, and quadruple) by performing linear fitting to the data. It was found that the slopes for each multiplicity are consistent with each other. The relations also seem to shift down in luminosity for a given total mass, as the order of multiplicity increases from binary to quadruple.

Keywords

• Multiple stars
• Stellar properties
• Stellar atmospheres
• Stellar evolution